Study links petrol fumes to crashes

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But despite the findings, devices that reduce the amount of
petrol vapour released at petrol pumps by 90 per cent are unlikely
to be introduced at Victorian service stations in the near
future.

National Taiwan University researcher Jung Der-Wang, studied
20,000 workers at a fuel company between 1991 and 2000 and
discovered that staff who worked on service station forecourts had
61 per cent more road accidents than office staff.

The study, discussed in New Scientist magazine, found
no difference in accident rates between the two groups on the way
to work, suggesting the only thing separating their driving skills
were the day-time hours that forecourt workers spent inhaling
petrol fumes that can cause drowsiness.

Further proof came after 1997, when Taiwan made it compulsory
for petrol stations to install vapour recovery systems, which suck
petrol vapour back in though tiny holes in the petrol nozzle and
cut vapour release by 90 per cent.

The accident rate of forecourt workers has since dropped to the
same level as the general population.

Vapour recovery devices have been used in parts of the United
States since 1972 and are used in nine European countries. In
Australia, they are used only when tankers deliver petrol to
service stations. Victorian Environment Protection Authority
spokeswoman Ruth Ward said there were no plans to introduce the
devices in Victoria.

Seth Semple, a neurotoxin expert at the University of Aberdeen
in Britain, told New Scientist that motorists were
unlikely to be affected by petrol fumes. "I would think short-term
exposure to solvents would have to be quite high to have any
effect," he said.